In essence, the book is all about living the untamed faith that we are called to. McManus claims that the church has been domesticated to such a degree that we believe that becoming a Christian means we are brought into a bundle of safety under God. However, that is not the case. In fact, we are brought to the exact opposite of that: to death. Luke 9:23-24 says:
"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it."
When we become a Christian and enter a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our old selves are dead. We are no longer citizens of this world but citizens of God's kingdom. I love how McManus calls the world "enemy territory" and that we spend this life behind enemy lines. When you look at it from that perspective, there is nothing comfy or safe about the world we live in. We are constantly in a war with a very manipulative enemy. Now I don't want to get too off-track, so let's focus on barbarian call to the barbarian way.
Since our church (this includes most people within the church) has become so domesticated, many people believe that everyone will get the same lifestyle: rich, happy, secure, comfortable. As the bible shows, this is absolutely not the case. Not to say that every Christian is going to have a difficult life, but that not everyone is going to have an enjoyable life by the world's terms. Some may go the route of Peter or any of the other martyrs and life a difficult life while others may end their life peacefully like John. Every person has a distinct call from God, and it doesn't matter what anyone else's call is. God made a specific plan for you. That can be difficult because it's not easy to be excited for the "dangerous" route; our domesticated, worldly selves want the easy and secure route. I really like this quote from the book:
That sounds terrifying, but when you think about it, it sounds exciting (for me at least). How cool is it that our God wants a life of adventure and risk for us? We always talk about taking risks, but usually we're afraid of it. Our God is asking us to dedicate our lives to Him and his "risky" plan for our lives. That is so cool!
I wonder how many of us are in that place of John the Baptist, at that crucible where God is asking, "Are you willing to lose everything on my behalf to gain everything I desire for you? Rather than living a long life, are you willing to live a life worth living?" (Page 49)
McManus goes on to explain that when we accept this call to the barbarian way with Christ, we look crazy to the rest of the world. No one can be in an intimate relationship with the Creator of the Universe and not be changed in some way. When this occurs, we will be changed for the better and God will start doing ridiculously cool things in our lives, but to those who aren't walking with God, we will look insane. Imagine if you saw some guy splitting the sea in half, or calling down fire from heaven, or calling she-bears from the mountains to maul children (2 Kings 2:23-25....look it up). You would think they were nuts, yet they are merely in the presence of the Lord. When we accept Christ and step into the barbarian way, we must give up all of ourselves and put on a new body. We can't only follow God on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights; we must be walking with the spirit at all times.
Now on to the last part of the book: the Barbarian Revolt. I enjoy how McManus calls out the modern church and warns it that a revolt is coming. God is not content with a domesticated church, and has no fear in turning it upside down. He did it to the Jews 2000 years ago, so who are we to say He's not afraid to do it again. Secondly, McManus believes that Satan is perfectly content with the church being civilized and domesticated because it allows us to disregard anyone outside of our own congregations. When we die and are "born again," we aren't coming back out of a human womb, we are going through spiritual rebirth. This means we don't come back in a maternity ward, but a war zone. I think this is one of my favorite analogies McManus makes in the book: the HALO effect.
the HALO effect is High-Altitude-Low-Opening. It's what soldiers do in enemy territory. They fly above radar zones, jump out of the airplane, and then don't release their parchutes till the last possible second for them to survive the impact. This means that the soldiers either die on impact or land in enemy territory.
God does not call us to a civilized Christian life, but one of danger, risk, adventure, and love. It won't always be easy, but it will be good. Oh, will it be good. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to be convicted to live the barbarian life we are all called to. I know it rocks me every time I read it or think about it, and really challenges me to the way I'm living my life. In my next post (hopefully), I will explain what I have been feeling as a result of this book and how God has been moving in my life lately.
I want to leave you with this quote from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the With, and the Wardrobe. It's kind of a life quote for me, and gives me goosebumps every time I read it. Enjoy!
"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver; "don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." (Page 86)
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